Eyes on the ball...The AFL fixture has been revealed as the most difficult mathematical problem in world sport. Picture: George Salpigtidis Source: Herald Sun
THE AFL fixture has been revealed as the most difficult mathematical problem in world sport.
As league chiefs prepare to unveil next season's draw, its complexities have been laid bare by the Canadian company that helps devise it.
The AFL uses British Columbian software firm Optimal Planning Solutions to craft its 23-round fixture.
Canvassing every possible combination for the 198- game home-and-away season would take literally billions of years, Optimal's chief told the Herald Sun.
Optimal creates draws for leading competitions across the globe including NFL football, European soccer, the NRL and Super Rugby.
Optimal chief Rick Stone says the AFL's array of agreements surrounding stadiums, clubs, blockbusters, broadcasters, state derbies, themed matches and player welfare made it the hardest fixture to assemble.
The equation is compounded because the league's 18 teams do not play each other twice.
"From a strictly mathematical point of view, the AFL is more difficult (than the 32-team NFL) -- by far," Stone told the Herald Sun.
"There are a lot of rules specific to the clubs, but there are also a lot of rules specific to stadiums and what the broadcasting partners are looking for. And every year they seem to come up with more rules and we assist them in defining the rules and translate that into software."
New fixture "rules" for next year will see top four teams play fewer matches against bottom four sides.
The only exception will be for the Swans, who get two hitouts against Greater Western Sydney.
Another rule sees the non-finalists from this season play a maximum of two return matches against top eight sides from 2012.
Stone said the home-and-away season, with 18 teams and 22 matches a club across 23 rounds, threw up more than 250,000 potential match-ups.
"The size of this model is so incredibly large -- I mean we attempt to look at every possible solution, but in reality, to look at every possible solution for the AFL would probably take billions of years on the fastest computers there are. Billions of years. It is that big," Stone said.
The AFL makes no secret of the fixture's limitations.
"The draw is absolutely compromised, it's unashamedly comprised, but what's really bizarre about the whole thing, and I can't give you any logical explanation, it appears that the best four teams make the top four every year," AFL boss Andrew Demetriou said last year.
Work on the fixture begins in August and Stone says the end result is outstanding considering the complications.
"They come up with some very good results," he said.
"Ten out 10. They really do a wonderful job with it -- in terms of trying to please everybody.
"There are probably hundreds of rules that go into it -- a lot of them are politically-based, some of them are sport-based and some of them are fairness-based.
"A lot of them are about economics, in terms of television and revenue-driving. So you are looking at it from a number of different perspectives.
"You're looking at it from the clubs, stadiums, networks and road teams, because of travel requirements, particularly for some of the more isolated clubs in Western Australia.
"It is almost an infinite number of combinations. Even from one team's perspective -- you talk to the fans, to the stadium manager, to the coach and to the team owner, they are all going to have a completely different idea about what a perfect schedule is."
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